The Process

All prints are produced using the IRIS method.
This means the inks can be ‘sprayed’ onto the surface of the paper as opposed to laying them down. This enables the use of fine watercolour papers. The images are printed on exactly the same paper as the artists original, although more expensive to create , the result is almost indefinable from the original watercolour and represents a breakthrough in quality from lithographic printing.

Aquarelle Arches watercolour paper, made in France since 1492 is of the very highest quality, 100% cotton, mould made and acid free.

Arches have been making beautiful paper at the same French mill since 1492. It was their paper that was used to print Dürer’s Chronicle of Gutenberg in 1500, as well as the Description of Egypt commissioned by Napoleon I in 1802. Nowadays, they focus on producing the finest professional-quality watercolour paper you can buy. It’s made on a cylinder mould using spring water and 100% cotton fibre, and it’s acid-free, pH-neutral, gelatin-sized, and air-dried. Arches Aquarelle papers are so durable that, stored properly, your artworks will outlive you. The sheets have attractive, traditional deckle edges, and every single sheet is inspected, by hand, before it leaves the factory. It’s no surprise that Arches Aquarelle paper is the favoured brand of leading watercolour artists all over the world.

The Arches (France) paper mill was founded in Lorraine, France, in 1492. Its colorful history is closely linked to the history of France. Many literary milestones and works of art have been entrusted to Arches papers, including the publication of the complete works of Voltaire, a project begun in 1784 that eventually required 70 tons of handmade Arches paper, and Napoleon’s The Description of Egypt, printed between 1807 and 1823 on two million sheets of Arches paper – made by hand.

In 1895, Arches entered the Industrial Age by using the cylinder mould to fabricate the finest art papers. Arches papers are still made in the original 1492 mill. Arches is now part of the Canson family of paper products.